Astana

The new capital of Kazakhstan is Astana.The Akmolinsk fortification was founded in 1830 as the centre of Akmolinsk exterior district of the Omsk oblastof West Siberia,an outpost of Russian Empire seeking to pave the way to its trade and political influence upon Central Asia in XVIII-XIX c.c.In the course of time Astana became the centre of trade fairs,where merchants from all over Kazakhstan, Russia, Central Asia, India and other countries gathered to sell a large number of cattle and agricultural output.In the 90-s of the XIX century the Akmolinsk oblast was turned into the centre of the re-settlement policy of Russia. Lots of people (workers, pri-soners etc) came here during the XIX-XX centures.In 1961 Akmolinsk was renamed into Tselinograd, which in 1960-1965 became the centre of the Tselinny Krai. In 1992 the city got its first name, later it was renamed into ASTANA. At the begining of 1996 it's population is 300,000 people. Sinse September 1995 in connection with the perspective development of a new independent sovereign state, Astana became a new capital of Republic of Kazakhstan.